The fun didn’t stop there, either, as Drama was challenged to a second match later in the episode at the ping pong club where Stamos trains three times a week. Stamos even promises Drama that he’ll do the show if he can beat him, but it didn’t matter, because even though Stamos won, he still agreed to read the script. Of course, Drama claims that he threw the match on purpose, but does anyone really buy that? I know Phil told him that he needed to stroke Stamos’ ego by letting him win, but with such big stakes on the line, it seems like too big of a gamble for Drama to take. Plus, he’s just as arrogant as Stamos, so I guess we’ll never know.

At least we have one less rivalry to keep track of now that Eric and Scotty Lavin have made amends. Though it certainly took them long enough to man up and apologize to one another for being dicks, Eric had no choice after he discovered that the “Airwalker” script that Scotty was pushing him to read was actually pretty good. Even Vince likes it, describing it as a darker version of “Aquaman,” so it looks like that’s going to be his next project. And perhaps with no copyrights to worry about, we’ll actually see him in costume this time around. While that should make for an interesting subplot for next season’s premiere, the story I’m more curious about how Eric and Scotty’s new partnership develops. We haven’t seen Murray at all this season, so it’ll be interesting to see what he thinks of their plans for the future, or better yet, if Scotty is just playing Eric for his own benefit.

On the other side of town, a rivalry continues to blossom between Ari and Lizzie as she leaves TMA for supposedly greener pastures. Though Ari tries to part with her on good terms, all Lizzie has on her mind is revenge. And when Ari gets a frenzied call from Andrew Klein in rehab relaying news that she’s stealing clients, everyone in the office is sent scrambling to find out what agency she’s joined that has the cajones to mess with Ari. My money is on Amanda Daniels, so expect to see Carla Gugino reemerge at some point before the end of the season. Still, even if Lizzie manages to nab a few star clients, Ari’s dreams of bringing an NFL team to LA seem closer to reality after his pitch to potential investors went resulted in big checks being signed. On a side note: Ari’s new assistant, Jake, is really starting to grow on me, but where has Lloyd been all this time?

I’d rather see more of him than Turtle, whose storyline continues to be a plague on this otherwise excellent season. I know I complain about it every week, but I just don’t see where it’s going. His business trip to Mexico may not have been as shady as I predicted, but while the tequila that Carlos Javier is hocking may be legit, the idea of putting Vince’s name (and face) on it just sounds incredibly tacky. Turtle definitely feels like he’s being exploited, but for some reason, he decides to stick around to visit the factory. I still don’t have a very good feeling about this, and if Vince gets involved (which he will, because he’s stupid like that), it might hurt his career in the long run. Then again, it wouldn’t be a season of “Entourage” without Vince’s career in the crosshairs.

Marvel, of course, is moving faster still with movies about Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, possibly Nick Fury, and who knows what else leading up to an “Avengers” film to be directed by geek fave Joss Whedon, we think. (In April, Whedon and Marvel were in “final negotiations.” Now one of Whedon’s brothers has apparently told MTV that he has “tentatively agreed” to do it…is that even different?)

So, what’s the big deal? A few movies have been extremely successful and Hollywood follows its historic tendency towards repeating a winning formula until such time as the audience completely revolts. Is this any different? No, actually, but also yes. You see, I haven’t read a Marvel comic in a very long time, but even now my closet fanboy heart goes faintly pitty-pat at the thought of an “Avengers” movie incorporating the same actors from the other films. Why? It’s called “continuity.” What’s that? I could just say, “It’s a fanboy thing, you wouldn’t understand.” But now, thanks to some random guy with a little musical ability and more wit, action figures, and time on his hands, I have an explanation. In song.

Big time h/t to Alison Nastasi of Cinematical.

It’s an old story. You’re a superhero minding your own business and then you bump into someone who looks very familiar but, well, something’s just not right. Gee whiz but this person looks a lot like you and is even wearing similar clothes, but then you notice your new acquaintance looks like he or she is made from rocks, uses terrible grammar and does everything the opposite of you. (“Me want to not save world!”) Or the newcomer looks like one of your deadliest enemies, but turns out to be no Bizaaro, but as heroic as you are. What’s a superhero to do?

It’s an old superhero comic story that has yet to find its way into a big-time costumed-hero flicks — but at least it’s finally been used in a solidly entertaining and often slyly funny direct-to-DVD animated production. Rated a mild PG-13 for non-deadly “action violence,” Warner Home Video’s “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” shows us the fall-out of an alternate universe where the equivalents of our most famed superheros are essentially costumed Mafioso, while a bald guy named Luthor and a joker named the Jester vainly fight the power of organized caped crime.

When the alternate Luthor (Chris Noth) manages a reality jump into the original DC Comics Universe, he enlists the aid of  most of the Justice League. And so, Superman (Mark Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), and a less than cooperative Batman (William Baldwin), become involved in a desperate quest to free Good Luthor’s universe from super-powered criminal domination by the vicious Crime Syndicate and it’s Jersey-thug-like leader, Ultraman (Brian Bloom) — and also to stave off the possible destruction of all existence by an off-his-evil meds Dark Knight of the Soul, Owlman (James Woods), and his only slightly more sane GF, Super Woman (Gina Torres).

The 72 minute direct-to-video feature was premiered at both of the coastal outlets of the Paley Center, and I attended the one located on Earth Prime’s Beverly Hills. Us members of the local geek press were allowed to commune with members of the cast and crew and, in my case, that started with the extremely busy animation casting and voice director, Andrea Romano. The loquacious performer and voice director, whose work includes everything from “Animaniacs” to “Spongebob Squarepants” and “Ben Ten,” is held in as high esteem by super-animation fans as any actor, writer, or director. Her work on DC superhero projects goes back to the early nineties and “Batman: The Animated Series,” which revolutionized superhero cartoons with quality writing from creators like Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, animation, and, thanks to her efforts, acting.

As Romano described to another writer, one aspect of her work is doing enough really detailed preparation so that the actual recording process is more pleasure than labor.  “I want that recording session to be a really pleasant experience for everybody, including me. If we’re not having a good time making cartoons, we’re doing something wrong.” That, she says, allows for an atmosphere in which actors can bring in new ideas that may not be 100% according to the original plan but may be worth including.

Noting that more than one actor in “Crisis on Two Earths” hadn’t previously worked in animation, I asked her how it was working with first timers like TV mainstay Mark Harmon, making his voice acting debut as Superman, and Bruce Davison, an actor with a huge variety of roles in his lengthy resume, but not a single piece of animation prior to portraying the voice of the alternate Universe’s U.S. President.

Of course, these people are pros and they adjust quickly, she said, but trust is key. “I let them know that I will never let them go out there sounding bad. It may take us twenty takes to get it, but I promise them that I won’t let them feel foolish. Once they buy into that and give themselves over to me, then their performances are terrific.”

Then what about actors like Gina Torres who seemed to segue from the Joss Whedon cult-classics “Firefly” and “Serenity” into these kinds of roles? She said that in working with people like Bruce Timm, often the casting really does reflect whatever television shows they happen to be watching. “We’ll suddenly have all the actors from ‘CSI‘ in, or all the actors from ‘Firefly,’ in because we started watching that series and they’re on our minds.”

Romano was also excited extremely about the next DC Comics property currently being finished,  “Batman: Under the Red Hood,” which deals with the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. “It’s dark; it’s violent; it’s really scary; it’s also very emotional. I always like to be with the actor, where they are emotionally in the scenes so they don’t feel like they are going through this alone. And so there are scenes that I find myself weeping through as the actor is crying.”

Next up was twenty-something actor Josh Keaton, best known as the most recent TV voice of Peter Parker/Spiderman, who very nicely voices the part of the Flash and, whose function in the “Crisis of Two Earths” is as something of a comic relief character. Of this Flash, Keaton said, “he says pretty much what everyone’s thinking and his timing isn’t necessarily the best. From a comedic standpoint, his timing is perfect. Being appropriate, [not really].” Keaton also voices a very small role as Aquaman in the production. “That was almost cooler than getting to be Flash because it’s Aquaman.” Even if you don’t fully grok what he meant by that, dear readers, I do.

Keaton’s also done quite a bit of episodic television and, naturally, video game acting. “I am a character named Destroyman on the No More Heroes franchise on the Wii. For those that are unfamiliar he has nipple guns and a crotch laser and I don’t have to explain why that’s awesome.”

(For the curious, and I’m definitely an enquiring mind when it comes to family ties, Josh Keaton is not related to any of the more well known acting Keatons, though he was quick to remind me that Michael Keaton’s real name is actually Michael Douglas and he had to change it when getting started because some other Michael Douglas had already snatched up his name in the SAG registry.  On the other hand, according to IMDb, both Josh and Michael Keaton are 5’9″. Also, Josh Keaton is very definitely related to his sister, actress Danielle Keaton, though their last name at birth was actually Wiener or Wiener-Navarro depending on whether you prefer IMDb or Wikipedia.  Yes, you learned it all here, folks.)

My next interview was slightly off the menu. Steve Niles is best known as the creator of the comic book, and co-screenwriter of the film, “30 Days of Night.” His latest project as a sceenwriter is an extra on the “Crisis” DVD, a new short animated version — presumably a test run for something longer later on — of a not-quite mainstream DC superhero, the Spectre.

A DC perennial with Golden Age roots brilliantly revived by writer Michael Fleisher and artist Jim Aparo in 1974 and 1975, the Spectre is Dirty Harry meets, well, God. In the comics, tough-guy detective Jim Corrigan meets up with the Lord Jehovah and becomes the ghostly Spectre, granted the power to mete out the Lord’s vengeance to evildoers as he sees fit. The series, which owed more than a little to the EC horror comics of the fifties, found some pretty famously clever ways around the rather severe restrictions on violence and horror of the old Comics Code Authority, but it still seems a bit beyond the bounds of the usual WB superhero animation.

Apparently, however, horror-writer Niles’ version is not far removed from Fleisher and Aparo’s strong vision. “He’s judge,  jury, and executioner. And he does it all with a sense of humor and irony.” Noting my all too obvious enthusiasm for the idea of reviving the series in animated form, he said. “I think you’ll get a real kick out of it, particularly the last death.”

Niles had learned that — much to my disappointment — they wouldn’t be screening the short, but that certainly didn’t dull his enthusiasm for the project. “My three favorite things are monsters, superheroes, and noir, and I was able to do all of them.”

Next up was the writer of the production I would actually get to see that night, Dwayne McDuffie.  Though I had my information a bit muddled when we spoke, McDuffie has had a long career as both a superhero comics and animation writer, which includes being the main scribe on the “Justice League Unlimited” TV series and creating the comic book and animated series versions of “Static Shock.” During the nineties, McDuffie also made a name for himself in the comic book industry by co-founding Milestone Media, which sought to broaden the cultural horizons of the superhero comics field.

Still, the question on my mind prior to seeing the film, and being aware tangentially of the mind-numbing complexity of DC’s notorious and hugely successful “Crisis of Infinite Earths” and subsequent cross-over mega-events, was: how do you keep it simple enough for a 75 minute animated feature? “It’s what I learned from Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and those guys: find the core of the character, find the pure element. You want to do the Aristotelian Batman” McDuffie said, laughing. (I think he actually meant the “Platonic Form of Batman” but you take your references to Greek philosophy where you find them.)

Somebody there had noted to me that McDuffie had worked on “Teen Titans,” a personal favorite of mine, but failed to mention he’d only been credited on two episodes. Still, McDuffie was nice enough to discuss the lessons of that show as it related to the importance of characters. “It was just about characters. It wasn’t about DC continuity, although there was tons of that there if you were into it. By the time you had the Doom Patrol showing up that was pretty on the edge. But what it was about was: what’s entertaining about these characters? What interests us about these characters? Let’s tell stories like that.”

Of course, this is Hollywood and you can’t talk about writers without also giving directors their due. “Crisis on Two Earths” has two of them: Sam Liu of “Planet Hulk” (for the other guys) and “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” for DC, and Lauren Montgomery of “Wonder Woman” and “Green Lantern: First Flight.” I asked Liu how, given the aforementioned overwhelming nature of some alternate universe plots involving superheroes, how he kept things from getting a bit too insane for a short feature.

“With time traveling and reality jumping, it can become complicated. We set up parameters for what we’re going to talk about and the other stuff we’re not going to get into. The fewer pieces that you have to introduce the [less] you have to explain everything. The story and events are compelling enough as it is.”

I asked Lauren Montgomery about how this directorial collaboration come together. The somewhat hectic production of DC animation seemed to be a major factor. For one thing, both Liu and Montgomery had both come off their respective pre-“Crisis on Two Earths” superhero extravanganzas.

“We were both a little tired, but they needed people to direct it and soon. So they asked us, if we could do it together would we want to do it. Yeah, if we could have someone to help and [take] a little bit of the workload off of [each other] it’d be great. I think we all wanted to work together, too. Sam’s been doing it a lot longer than I have, so I definitely want to use it as a learning experience…We just have very different ways of working,” she said, alluding to her frequent statements that her style is more intuitive than Liu’s more direct, story-oriented approach. “There are things I’m stronger at and things that he’s stronger at we could kind of use them to complement each other and make a better project.”

She had more to say also on how a Justice League project was different from her prior single-superhero-centric movies. “There’s all these important characters and we don’t want to shortchange any of them. You don’t want to shortchange Flash and just give all the attention to Batman and Superman [for example]. So, we tried to make sure they each had some camera-time, some moment to shine, even though obviously Superman and Batman are going to be the more prominent characters in the movie. It’s a huge challenge to handle these really prominent characters and make sure you handle them correctly and don’t do any of them wrong.”

An interview with veteran voice actress Vanessa Marshall, who performs the part of Wonder Woman for the first time in “Crisis,” was unfortunately cut short due to time constraints, and a hastily assembled group interview of Gina Torres got underway. Torres is something of a superstar to some of us (me!) for her aforementioned tart, witty tenure on Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” and it’s theatrical follow-up, “Serenity.” (She also did some extraodinary work as a guest villain/goddess on “Angel,” though her storyline was not a huge hit with fans.)  The taller-than-you’d-thing actress, whose appearance in person definitely befits a woman who’s played more than one near-diety, also appeared in the title role in Chris Rock’s un-lauded Eric Rohmer remake, “I Think I Love My Wife.”

In addition all of that, Torres is married to none other than Laurence Fishburne. My excuse for mentioning that is Torres brought up her husband own status as a bit of closet comics geek, responding to a writer’s question that doing superhero animation gave her “great stepmom cred and status.” She added, “it also gives me great wife-cred and status because my husband is a huge comic book fan…”

And Ms. Torres continued to prove her high levels of geek tolerance as the geekster questions continued. One scribe asked: which did she enjoy playing more, Justice Leaguer Vixen or Crime Syndicate honcho Super Woman?

“Vixen is a good girl, with an edge and Super Woman, she’s just straight-up bad, with curves. I am loyal to both of them. It’s fun playing bad. You don’t have to therapy, you just get to get it all out, right in the booth.” When asked about her favorite piece of dialogue, she mentioned her’s character (accurate) self-description of her status as a “sick and twisted sociopath.”

And, it was up to this Whedon fan — though I was far from the only one present — to mention “Firefly” and ask how she felt about how that seems to have led to her being something of a go-to person for science fiction and fantasy-related roles as — in her words — “a warrior woman.”

“I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s great. It’s wonderful that I am filling part of this need to have strong and capable, fantastic women out there. The fact that I’m doing a good job with it — because they keep asking me to continue playing these parts — is great. The more the better. I’m up for it. I’m up for the party. ”

With each subsequent “Super Friends” set that emerges from the Warner Brothers vaults, my childhood memories are tarnished a little bit more. I spent more Saturday mornings in front of the television that I’d care to count, held rapt by the adventures of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins, but as I revisit those adventures now, I’m really, really disappointed with how poorly they’ve held up for me. Maybe it’s just because the world of superhero animation changed so dramatically with the premiere of “Batman: The Animated Series” in 1992 that it’s hard to take the Super Friends’ adventures seriously anymore. That’s not to say that you won’t find yourself experiencing plenty of fun flashbacks with the heroes’ various puzzles, magic tricks, and safety lessons, but the segments with actual storylines will result in little more than giddy laughter at their ridiculousness.

There’s only one special feature, but as ever for these “Super Friends” sets, it’s a good one: “The Wonder Twins Phenomenon,” which features talking-head contributions from Doug Goldstein and Tom Root (“Robot Chicken”), Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn (“Attack of the Show”), super-writer Paul Dini, original “Super Friends” writers Alan Burnett and Rich Fogel, and animation historians Jerry Beck and Andy Mangels. Everyone offers their usual blend of childhood reminiscences, first-hand experiences from the animation trenches, and complete and total snark…and, in truth, the combination is exactly what The Wonder Twins deserve. There’s even a brief discussion about Zan and Jayna’s predecessors, Wendy and Marvin, and how inappropriate it was for a couple of powerless teenagers to follow these superheroes around. Say, where did Gleek always manage to pull that bucket from? Never mind. I don’t really want to know.

Click to buy “The All New Super Friends Hour: Season One, Volume Two”

It was only March of this year when the most recent animated incarnation of The Dark Knight – “The Batman” – ended its five-season run, but with the billion-dollar success of the most recent feature-film adventure of Gotham City’s most famous crimefighter, it’s no surprise that Bats would turn up again. What is surprising, however, is the decision to bring him back via a concept that completely dismisses the darkness and “forever a loner” feeling of “The Dark Knight” in favor of a bright and colorful weekly team-up series.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. As someone who grew up reading comics in the 1970s, I loved Batman’s team-up title, “The Brave and the Bold.” And Superman’s “DC Comics Presents.” And, hell, as long as I’m geeking out, I regularly bought “Marvel Team-Up,” “Marvel Two-in-One,” and even “Super-Villain Team-Up.” It was always a blast to see who was going to turn up in these comics, and the more obscure the hero, the better. Batman and the Metal Men…? Check. Superman and Air Wave…? Sweet. The Thing and Brother Voodoo. Awesome. Spider-Man and the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players of “Saturday Night Live”? Oh, hell, yes.

It’s fair to say that the reason that Cartoon Network was willing to take a chance on a series that could potentially team Batman with some really obscure heroes is the success of the “Justice League Unlimited” series, which successfully expanded the animated DC Universe with folks who had never before seen their way into cartoons. The press kit for “The Brave and the Bold” offers a preview of upcoming episodes, and it’s pretty cool that they’ve decided to give the spotlight to the Red Tornado, who, despite having membership in the Justice League for several decades now, has never had a huge profile outside of comic books. With that said, however, it’s clear that they’re going with some semi-obvious picks for the first few episodes.

Aquaman…? He might not have been able to get his hour-long series green lit on The WB, but his profile has gone sky-high since he became part of an “Entourage” storyline.

Plastic Man…? The Wachowski Brothers keep threatening to make a feature-length film about Plas, and his semi-classic animated series from the early ’80s is due to make its DVD debut in the near future.

Green Arrow…? Are you kidding me? He’s become a regular character on “Smallville” now, so he’s pretty much a gimme. The most surprising thing about his appearance here is that they’ve opted to go with his old-school look, even though his “JLU” stint found the more recognizable Robin-Hood-inspired outfit and famous facial hair.

Now that we’ve cited all of these names, however, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that the opening credits are filled to the brim with possibilities for future team-ups or villains. If you pause your TiVo and do a slow crawl through the credits, you’ll see either the names or the faces of the following: Black Lightning, Sinestro, Dr. Fate, the Elongated Man, the Atom, Metamorpho, Bronze Tiger, Kamandi, Owl Man, Deadman, Dr. Polaris, the Gentleman Ghost, Booster Gold, Wildcat, the Demon, the Royal Flush Gang, Ocean Master, Jonah Hex, Gorilla Grodd, Despero, Morgaine le Fey, B’Wana Beast, Black Manta, The Joker, Green Lantern, Star Sapphire, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and…wait for it…G’Nort.

The first episode, however, finds Batman working alongside the latest incarnation of the Blue Beetle to fight Kanjar Ro on some distant alien planet. If you’re not familiar with any incarnation of the Blue Beetle, this is neither the time nor place for me to wax intellectual about Dan Garrett and Ted Kord, but the new version stands out in particular because he’s a Hispanic superhero, which you don’t see very often. He’s painted on “The Brave and the Bold” much in the same way that he is in the comics: as a newbie to the hero game who’s still trying to work out how his powers function. (They come from an alien tool of war that’s attached to his spine. I think.)

There’s a remarkable amount of humor in this episode, and not all of it comes from the Beetle. Even Batman gets a few funny lines as he deals with the fact that the Beetle is viewed as a hero on this alien planet while he himself is referred to as the Beetle’s “sidekick.” Then again, with former “Drew Carey” co-star Diedrich Bader voicing Bats this time around, they probably figured they should take full advantage of his comedic delivery. Mind you, I probably laughed hardest during an opening sequence where the Beetle is flipping through channels and stops briefly on a stand-up comedian who only gets the chance to say, “It’s called ‘The Aristocrats,'” before the channel changes again. The reference alone was enough for me to laugh loud and hard…and, then, I stopped really quickly, lest I have to explain to my 3-year-old daughter what was so funny.

Based on this episode, it’s pretty clear that “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” is going to be geared at both kids and their parents…and not for those who prefer the grim and gritty version of Batman. It is, however, the kind of show you wish those “Superfriends” episodes from the ’70s were: action-packed and filled with fun, but with their tongue placed firmly in cheek as often as not. Certainly, the moments where Beetle is battling Kanjar Ro are well paced and, at times, could prove a little disconcerting for younger viewers, but the well-timed punchlines lighten the mood enough to make this a blast for the “old folks,” too.

Want proof? Check out the trailer: